By Alec Keller

The August 4 Ada council meeting was conducted by Mayor Dave Retterer with all council members present. The meeting included a continuation of discussion about pedestrian safety at Turner and West streets. Chief Alec Cooper reported that $2,000 was raised to support Ada's first National Night Out celebration on August 5. The council packet is here.

ORDINANCE
Council approved the first reading of an ordinance to vacate Eric Wolber Avenue within the Village of Ada. This action connected with the installation of a rail spur on the south side of Configure Brands’ facility. 

TURNER AND WEST SAFETY
Resident Britanny Hays brought her concerns regarding traffic safety at the intersection of Turner and West streets. Hays emphasized that there have been incidents of motorists speeding down Turner Avenue due to the lack of a stop sign. She said that children also walk to school on that road as well. Hays mentioned she did some research on temporary speed bumps or speed tables.

“Temporary speed bumps or tables can be removed for snow plowing,” Hays said. “Not as big of a maintenance problem or upkeep, because you’re not needing to have the concrete or cement floor to keep up with them. And costwise, hopefully not as big of an investment.”

Hays offered the idea of potentially testing these solutions. She also showed some studies done in different states and different cities. One 2004 study in Oakland said that there is a 53-60% reduction in odds of injury or death among children who are struck by a vehicle in their neighborhood when there is an installation of a speed table or speed bump. 

A committee meeting was held by council to discuss those issues following the regular meeting.

AUDIBLE CROSSWALKS
Chad Hays of Ada came to discuss a need for audible crosswalks, which use sounds, spoken messages and vibrating arrows to help blind or low-vision people safely cross the street. These systems match the visual "Walk" and "Don't Walk" signals with clear audio cues. He is requesting to have them on Lincoln Avenue near Ohio Northern and on Highland Avenue. Hays said it would be safer for the visually impaired but acknowledged potential high costs.

PERSONNEL
Council held a brief executive session to discuss terms of employment and then approved a motion to update Administrative Assistant Michelle Chamber’s job description, to classify the position as fully under the village administrator, and to increase pay to $30.77. per hour.

POLICE DEPARTMENT
Police Chief Alec Cooper said that since the last council meeting,  the department has initiated or responded to 108 calls for service, 11 incident offense reports, and 0 vehicle accident reports. 

Cooper said the police department received $1,000 in donations for the August 5 National Night Out event, with funds primarily coming from private citizens. An additional $1,000 was received from a Hardin County Community Foundation grant. 

ADMINISTRATION
Village Administrator Casey Smith reported on an ongoing project at the water treatment plant. The contractor, JDY Excavating, is currently working on new high-pressure service pumps. Smith showed photos of the installation of underground piping that will be connected to the clearwells. 

Smith discussed the village’s social media presence and presented metrics on Facebook page engagement. Smith said the page is being used in an effort to phase out the MyCivic app and its subscription.